The Cave
by ygodmyy20
Summary: Yugi is a student with missed opportunities in life. A mere one-month trip to visit Anzu at school brings with it more discovery than Yugi could ever have wanted.
1. Just give it time

**Title**: The Cave

**Author**: dmyamiyugi and/or dmyy20

**Rating**: M for later chapter and suggestive situations, and severe alcohol consumption.

**Pairings**: AtemuxYugi. Hints of YugixAnzu.

**Spoilers**: None. A/U

**Summary**: Growing up isn't a one-way street. Never has been, never will be. The street is lined with luck and chances, missed opportunities and excellent decisions. Are you willing to stray from the path and take a chance, Yugi? Are you ready to look at yourself in the mirror, and smile and acknowledge and understand, and love yourself?

**More concrete summary**: Yugi is a student with missed opportunities in life. A mere one-month trip to visit Anzu at school brings with it more discovery than Yugi could ever have wanted.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters Yugi of Atemu or Anzu (or anyone else that will show up). I do however own this plot, so please be considerate.

**Chapter 1- Just give it time**

"So…when are you supposed to leave?" He asked, twisting his body around on the bed to let his head hang off the end, staring at his friend upside down. His white-socked feet pushed up against the white walls of his best friends room. The walls were covered with different posters, but all has a common theme. Dance.

A girl on the floor lay back against her pink beanie bag chair, hands flipping through a Cosmopolitan magazine. "I'm leaving at the end of August. Our semester starts in early September. Why do you ask Yugi?" she glanced up from her magazine, blue eyes shinning with curiosity.

Yugi crossed his arms, frowning. He chewed on his bottom lip pondering. His best friend just shrugged, brushing one of her chocolate brown strands behind her ear. Yugi sighed. "I just…wanted to know…"

"Yugi, I'll stay in contact, don't worry. I know…the east cost is kinda far away from California, but hey," she smiled bright, putting the magazine down. "We have facebook, we have phones!" she laughed. "We can do it!"

Yugi sighed. "I know Anzu, I know…I just wish I could go with. I'm stuck here." He sighed, slowly sliding off Anzu's dark blue sheets onto the white-carpeted floor. Yugi turned his body and flopped down onto the plush white carpet, crossing his legs. He brushed his long blonde bangs behind his ears, before reaching behind his head and adjusting his spiked black and magenta-tipped hair. Anzu cocked her head, staring down at him.

"Yugi, I'm really sorry you couldn't go to Berkley like you wanted…you tried everything?" she asked, placing her hand on Yugi's shoulder.

He nodded, grimacing. "Yea, I even applied without them knowing. But my mom found my acceptance letter. I got home late ONE day from the library…and she had already opened it." Yugi groaned, flopping on arm over his face. "If only I had gotten more grants, she might have considered…but father said noooo." Yugi huffed, mumbling to himself in a low tone. "We need you here SON! Take over the business! No honey, he will not be going to study old, dusty artifacts. Where's the damn money in that!" Yugi yawned, changing back to his original pitch of voice. "And mom cannot stand up to him…his word is final…"

Yugi hands gripped at his knees. "I don't know SHIT about programming! Like, I can barley pass html off! He expects me to go to community college for a programming degree and work at—" Yugi held up his fingers in quoting form. "_Motou Corp."_

Anzu smiled, laughing lightly. "Hehe, nice impression of your dad there Yugi." Yugi's frown slowly eased into a light smile. Anzu smacked his shoulder, grinning. "We can make it Yugi. Just gota give it a few more years. Your job at the gaming store should give you enough within a year to get your own place. Right?"

Yugi nodded, eyes shinning. "Yea…I hope so. Then again, my parents are tied to my bank account right now. I have to still open a new one and put all my checks into that one."

Anzu nodded. "Just give it some time Yugi. I promise we will both be able to accomplish our dreams. Mine as a Dancer, and yours as an Archeologist."

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

The sun shone bright down the suburban street that Yugi lived on all his life. It was quite, serene: a perfect street. Trees lined the road, bright green in the summer light.

It was a street.

Year after year, Yugi walked down it.

And he hated it.

Yugi shoved his hands in his jean pockets, shoulders slumping. Over two years ago, he wanted to get out of here. Get out of this place.

But there was no way to leave. He was stuck; tied to a business he did not give a damn about. Stuck at a house because he could not gain enough money to depart from them. Stuck in the mud of an ongoing, never-ending, repetitive cycle.

Yugi sighed, and let a smile graze his lips. At least he was going to New York to visit Anzu at Julliard. She would be a Junior this coming fall.

A depressed moan escaped his lips. Yugi rolled his eyes to the sky, thinking. He went to community college, and graduated last year. To think that Anzu still had a long way to go was a sad thought.

'Wish I was still in school,' Yugi thought.

But he would get a good few weeks in the Big Apple with Anzu. Almost three weeks to spend with his best friend. Maybe, just maybe, enough time to reverse time.

Go back in time to when they were in high school, and when Yugi had a chance with her. Not forward in time, to where they are now. To Anzu being a beautiful dancer, a great girl to be around. Not to now, where she has boys fawning over her left and right.

Yugi groaned, shoulders hunching. It was even worse when both him and Anzu turned 21. Anzu was away at school when she turned 21.

The Facebook pictures showed quite enough. Pictures of partying, of drinking, of funny make-out pictures.

Yugi grunted, kicking a stone. 'Wish I could have been that guy,' he thought, trying to imagine himself in those pictures along side a drunk and out of control Anzu.

"Heh, don't think about that Yugi," he said out loud. "Don't want to cause an embarrassment to yourself!" He forced out a laugh, his grin pushing up against his cheeks harshly as he felt that all to prominent pull on his gut. It was becoming more and more bothersome as of late.

Yugi suddenly frowned, right brow twitching slightly. It was silly, he knew. It was immature, he knew. But why, why oh why, did his body not react to his great visual thought!

His foot struck a tree, and Yugi hissed in pain. He began walking with a light limp, still grumbling to himself.

'Maybe I have ED or something. I should go to the doctor. Just can't tell Anzu about that, too embarrassing,' he nodded, and continued nodding to himself. 'Yea…still wish my 21st birthday was more fun.'

Yugi spent his birthday out with friends. But ones from work. And ones that were not really friends either. Just co-workers. Yes, he got drunk and had crazy pictures posted all over Facebook.

But in most of them, he was not surrounded by girls. Just drunk guys.

Yugi shook his head, clearing his mind. 'Enough of this. I need to get home to pack. I've been walking in circles around my neighborhood for an hour. Mom's probably worried about me by now.' His picked up his feet, taking of in a fast jog, set on getting to home as fast as he could now.

At least he was visiting Anzu. At least something was starting to look up in his bleak life.

A/N- HEY EVERYONE! :) I'm back, oh man...feels good to be working on something. God. Well, I have 4 chapters written on this story and 4 on Slave of Shadows. Both will be updated kinda around the same time, since I am working on both simultaneously. I think this will work out well for me, since the stories are so different, so if I am bored with one I can work on the other and my spark won't die for either. So updates will not be super frequent, since I am entering the end of my junior year in college, but I will try my best. As always, read and review!


	2. Hi, how are you?

**Title**: The Cave

**Author**: dmyamiyugi and/or dmyy20

**Rating**: M for later chapter and suggestive situations, and severe alcohol consumption.

**Pairings**: AtemuxYugi. Hints of YugixAnzu.

**Spoilers**: None. A/U

**Summary**: Growing up isn't a one-way street. Never has been, never will be. The street is lined with luck and chances, missed opportunities and excellent decisions. Are you willing to stray from the path and take a chance, Yugi? Are you ready to look at yourself in the mirror, and smile and acknowledge and understand, and love yourself?

**More concrete summary**: Yugi is a student with missed opportunities in life. A mere one-month trip to visit Anzu at school brings with it more discovery than Yugi could ever have wanted.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters Yugi of Atemu or Anzu (or anyone else that will show up). I do however own this plot, so please be considerate.

**Chapter 2- Hi, how are you?**

The streets buzzed with the footsteps of a thousand people, all moving in a sea on heads. Fast paced, ears glued to their cell phones, or eyes staring down at tablet devices. Trench coats billowed out from seemingly every man Yugi passed, and every women was done up in a straight black skirt suite. Many homeless slouched at the corners of buildings; a change cup placed at their feet.

Yugi walked down the busy Broadway avenue, glancing down at his paper every few seconds to make sure he was going the right way. Yugi had only been to New York City to visit Anzu once before, and being directionally challenged made it very hard to find his way the second time. He knew what the building looked like, and he knew it was right off of Broadway. So hopefully, he would get there soon.

Yugi shoved the paper in his pocket, taking out his Blackberry. He clicked on one of the keys, checking his messages. "None from Anzu. Damn." Yugi glanced up, only to quickly dodge to the side to avoid hitting someone. "Sorry," he muttered, and earing no response from the other besides a curt nod. Yugi huffed, dragging his large duffle higher on his shoulder.

Suddenly, he stopped, glancing up at the large pale building in front of him.

He reached into his pocket, shuffling his fingers around before drawing the sheet of paper out. He looked up at the building, down at the sheet, and then up at the building once again.

"Finally. Made it!" Yugi exclaimed, a grin plastered over his face. He heaved himself up the steps into the cool air-conditioned building, smiling. Glancing around the grand entrance, Yugi mad his way to the front desk. He asked the security guard where the dance studio was, saying he was a friend of a student and then showing his license to the women. She nodded, placing the id into a folder for Yugi to take when he exited the building. She then checked his bags quickly, before letting him go.

Yugi smirked as he walked down the hallway to the elevator. 'I forgot the school is pretty secure,' he thought, pressing the button for the elevator. He eased himself up and down on his heels, waiting.

_DI~NG_

Yugi walked onto the freshly cleaned elevator, glancing thoroughly at the numbers.

"I think she said fourth floor…" he pressed the four, leaning back as the door closed. He grinned sheepishly. "Hope I'm right. I don't want to get lost here with all my stuff."

When the elevator reached the fourth floor, Yugi exited, walking into a bright, white tiled hall. He whistled. "Wow…" Making his way down the aisle, he peaked into each little window of the rooms. Some rooms had just women, some just men and some were both, the two sexes intertwined in a sexy tango, some in a innocent waltz.

Yugi smile grew, butterflies growing in his stomach. "This is amazing! Last time, Anzu was just a freshman! All these classes look so professional." Yugi continued to glanced in each window eagerly, excited to see what everyone was doing.

When he got near the end of the hall, he noticed one door was left ajar, the music from the room pouring out. Unlike the other rooms, which were sound tight, Yugi could hear a symphony suite loud and clear from this room.

Yugi inched his way closer, hesitant to make his presence known to someone who could see and hear him. He peaked his head around the doorway, curious to see who was dancing.

A lone women was in the room, adorn in black tights that stopped just at her calf and a loose, bright blue toptop. She arched her back, stretching her toe towards the sky. Then she leaned down, leaping into the air.

Her brown, shoulder length hair brushed past her face when she landed, azure eyes closing in concentration.

Yugi's grin broke into a wide smile, his cheeks almost hurting from his joy. "Anzu!" She stopped short, nearly tripping before opening her eyes and turning around.

"Yugi!" She yelled, running to turn the volume down and then running back towards the door. Yugi dropped his stuff on the ground, giving his friend a massive hug. Though she was still taller, Yugi managed to grab her around the shoulders and make her lean down.

Anzu laughed, pulling away and ruffling Yugi's hair. "Why didn't you call or text me when you got into the city?" She asked, walking back into the room and sitting on the floor. She began to undo the laces on her points, taking the ballet shoes off her worn feet. Yugi followed her, sitting down in front of her cross legged.

"I wanted to surprise you a bit. Also, I didn't know when your class ended. You said you might have class or have a practice hour. Turns out to have been a practice hour huh?" he asked. Anzu nodded, placing her shoes to the side and sighed, stretching out her toes.

"Yeah. But…I do have something else I have to go to actually," she laughed. "I have to meet with my group in the music wing for a little bit. Work on a project for music theory." She frowned, crossing her legs and arms at the same time. "I wish I could have told you. I feel bad….and you have to lug your stuff around till I get out and can go home!"

Yugi smiled, waving it off with his hand. "It's no problem. I don't mind."

Anzu nodded in agreement. "Well okay then, common," she stood, walking to her bag and taking out a pair of jeans to throw over her tights. She also slipped her feet into some simple black flats. "I'll show you the way!" Anzu placed her shoes in the bag, before throwing it over her shoulder and making her way out the door confidently.

Yugi followed, his smile fading slightly. He walked behind Anzu, in her shadow as she led the way down the hall. They passed a couple girls, Anzu waving at the enthusiastically. They stopped and talked for a moment about one dance class, Anzu moaning and agreeing with their horrible teacher, and cute T.A. (teacher's assistant).

Yugi hung behind her still, feeling more lost in her shadow then ever before. Yet, the exchanges of words were brief and the two were on their way to the music wing.

"Here we go," Anzu stated, grinning. "The music hall." She turned to Yugi, smiling. "Sure you don't mind sitting around as we talk about clefts and accidentals and keys and all that FUN theory stuff?" she asked, laughing.

Yugi laughed in return. "No no Anzu. I'll be fine. I'll watch."

Anzu sighed, but was still smiling. "Okay Yugi." She started forward, making her way down the hallway to an open room. She walked inside, greeting all the others who where there.

The room was wide, with a solid wooden floor. Certain sections of the walls jutted out, and others were covered in an off material for Acoustics. Two girls sat in some cushioned black chairs, stands in front of them. Anzu introduced Yugi to all the girls. One, a tall lanky blond girl, who had her hair tied back in a bun, was Jen. The other, a small, petite girl with dark, dark brown hair was Amanda. Yugi waved to them all, grinning nervously. He then glanced up to look at the other man in the room. On the other side of the room, close to the windows, was a grand piano. Another student was sitting on the seat, his back towards them. He was playing, hands occasionally stopping to write something in on the sheet of music in front of him. Yugi's right brown rose, staring at the man's head like it was a foreign object.

His hair jutted out in all directions. Red mixed with black, and his bangs bleached out in the front.

Yugi reached up to run his hands through his own bleached and red dyed hair in confusion. 'Who would dye their hair the same as mine…?' he thought, rubbing his head in thought. The only difference was the man had his hair secured in a ponytail, while Yugi let his run free.

Anzu wrung her hands, clearly a little nervous speaking up to him. "Um, Atemu? Wana come join the group?" she asked, trying to sound light and not as commanding.

The man turned, his eyes wide. He grinned. "Sorry." His eyes then locked with Yugi's. Atemu stared. Yugi stared back, almost afraid to look away or blink.

'Who in the world has red, blood crimson eyes?' Yugi thought.

'Who in the world has violet blue eyes?' Atemu thought, and then, his eyes narrowed. 'And why does he have my hair!'

Anzu noticed Atemu's stiffness to Yugi. "Um, Atemu. This is Yugi Motou. He's a friend of mine from California. He just is sitting in with us for a bit."

Atemu's face finally softened and he stood, placing his hand forward. "Nice to meet you. I'm Atemu Akunum*." Yugi smiled, taking his large, and much tanner hand in his and shaking it.

"Nice to meet you Atemu."

Atemu nodded, releasing his hand, but his eyes lingered on Yugi's for just a moment more. Yugi coughed nervously, and Atemu finally looked away. "So, our theory project," he began, baritone voice vibrating from the acoustics.

Yugi backed himself away from the group, going to sit on the piano bench. Atemu was only a few inches taller than the quite short five foot five Yugi, but his low voice made him seem as though he was almost 6 feet tall.

'I wonder why he's the only guy in Anzu's group. And…' he watched Anzu for a moment. She smiled up at Atemu, giggling. 'Does she…like Atemu?' Yugi thought. He turned his head to Atemu, watching his reaction.

Either Atemu was playing very hard to get, or he didn't reciprocate Anzu's little flirts at all. Yugi felt his chest swell happily. 'Good…'

He turned his body towards the piano, balancing his fingers over the keys gently. Yugi glanced up at the music that Atemu must have been playing earlier.

He blinked, staring at the music with wide eyes. 'This…it's all hand done!' he quickly took the music from the stand, flipping through it. 'My god, he wrote ALL of this…' Yugi swallowed, reading through the music. 'These runs are so complicated. Who could even play this?'

His eyes glanced to the side, making sure Atemu wasn't watching. Yugi then sighed, placing the music back on the stand. 'All of these people. They dance, they make music, they write symphonies. They…' he trailed off in his thoughts, shoulders falling. 'In three years here, they made themselves something. All I've done is…nothing…'

Yugi folded his legs underneath him on the chair, hands falling limp in his lap. His shoulders seized as he took in a long breath, before relaxing as his let it out.

He sat in silence as the others talked away about their project. Yugi raising his hands again, glancing over the music in front of him. He tapped each key lightly, but not enough to have it make a sound, as he tried to figure out the melody of the mans work.

"You can play the piece if you want," Yugi's hands bolted from the keys, startled. He turned his head.

Atemu grinned. "It's really rough around the edges, but you can take a crack at it."

Yugi swallowed. "Um…okay…" he gently placed his hands on the keys, and began hitting the notes on the treble part of the piece. He stopped suddenly lowering his hands. 'I'm mutilating his work with my playing. I haven't taken lessons in years. They probably think I'm such a wannabe…' Yugi thought.

His lips turned down into a pout. 'Well fine, I'll play something I KNOW how to play. Ha.' Yugi grinned, feeling quite accomplished. He laid his fingers over the piano keys, and positioned his foot at the petal.

Atemu blinked, glancing over his shoulder when Anzu's friend began to play. He blinked, wracking his brain to figure out where he heard the melody before.

Atemu turned to Anzu. "What is he playing?" he asked in a low tone.

Anzu smiled, and whispered back, "Have you herd of a composer known as Yann Tiersen? Yugi loves the movies Yan composes for."

Atemu nodded, slowly turning his head back towards Yugi. Yes, the some notes were off. Yes, Yugi did not have the rhythm right. But, the song was so sad.

The notes rang through the room, and even the other girls stopped to listen.

Atemu eyes widened as he continued to listen. It was soft, so soft, like an underlying buzz under the notes. As if there was some secret message Yugi was trying to give to them, but it kept getting blurred. He wanted to tell them something, but could not. Or, maybe, that he wanted people to hear something, but he did not want to say a word.

~!~!~!~!~!~

Atemu packed his music into his bag, swinging the backpack up onto his shoulder. He glanced in the direction of the piano, watching Yugi talk with Anzu.

Red eyes glanced down, heaving out a breath. 'Yugi likes her, but she is too blind to see. Sad…' he thought. As Yugi talked, he began to stand, only to trip over his many bags. Atemu grinned. 'Wonder how he got all the way here without falling on his face,' he laughed inwardly, putting his backpack on more securely and walking over.

"Yugi?" he began. Yugi glanced up at him with a curious gaze. Atemu put out his hand. "Do you need help carrying all your bags back to Anzu's place? I don't have class, I really don't mind helping."

Anzu's face flushed momentarily as she turned towards the window, repacking her shoes into her duffle bag.

Yugi blinked, repositioning his weight over his feet slowly. "Sure…" he answered, handing Atemu his large rolling bag. Atemu took it, smiling.

Yugi just returned it with a look of skepticism. 'Using me to get to Anzu…what a bastard…' Yugi thought, trying to cover up his annoyed huff.

Atemu noticed the sudden stiffness in Yugi, and forced his smile to wane. He opened his mouth, but just let the air escape without a sound. Pushing his body up on his heels and back, Atemu inclined his head towards the door in question.

Yugi, to Atemu's relief, understood and walked out of the room, Anzu on his heel. Atemu followed, making sure to keep his distance from the two, but making sure to not stray too far off.

Yugi quickly sprouted a conversation with Anzu about their childhood. The two laughed and reminisced, Yugi drawing a large wall between the two of them and Atemu.

Atemu felt his head dip between his shoulders. 'I think I may have jumped the gun on this one at first…and now they reloaded and shot me…' he sighed, hopes of getting to know Anzu's melancholy yet bubbly friend slowly dying. Yet, Yugi never acted melancholy. And there lied in Atemu's curiosity towards him.

Music so sad, yet Yugi's body screamed, "I am happy, look! See, happy!"

Atemu could not help him self. He was curious, so damn curious, he would endure all exorcising of him from the group to find out why. Why was Yugi so sad? Was he just today sad, tomorrow happy?

Atemu was a sap for a sappy story, as well as a man who will stop at nothing to find a simple answer that he probably should have stepped back from. He always had to find the answer, the secret—the riddle to solve the puzzle. People seemed to work the same way to him.

Atemu smirked to himself, not at all bothered by Yugi's wall. 'Only intrigues me more…'

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Akunum—Took the name Akunumkanon and just shortened it a bit. Akunumkanon is Atemu's father's name in the original series if no one knew. Shortened it to make it easier to read.

A/N- Hey everyone, sorry for not updating this that often heh I want to make sure I am at least three chapters ahead of raw drafts so I don't have my fics drop off the face of the earth again. Right now both stories I am working on are nearing Chapter 5, so I'm on the right track for myself. Slave of Shadows should be updated soon as well, just need to get some motivation to edit it (see I can write rough after rough draft but editing well...there lies my Achilles heel).

Anyway, thanks for continuing to stick with me everyone, I love you all!


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